Opencl provider and amd graphics card

[salman258746]

Hi
I am using Manjaro with KDE Plasma Desktop. I am installing DaVinci Resolve from AUR. During installation, it is asking me following question:

:: There are 7 providers available for opencl-driver:
:: Repository extra:
    1) intel-compute-runtime  2) opencl-clover-mesa  3) opencl-nvidia  4) opencl-nvidia-390xx  5) opencl-nvidia-470xx  6) opencl-rusticl-mesa  7) rocm-opencl-runtime  
Enter a number (default=1): 

My laptop has two video cards:

1. Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
2. AMD Thames [Radeon HD 7500M/7600M Series]
   So, it means that from the above list, I will ignore No. 3, 4 and 5, as they are related to NVidia card. However, I don’t know that from the remaining (following) which one I choose:

1) intel-compute-runtime 
2) opencl-clover-mesa  
6) opencl-rusticl-mesa  
7) rocm-opencl-runtime  

I don’t have much experience with graphics cards and their drivers. So, I am confused that which of these I should install. Can you please guide me in this regard.
Thanks

[megavolt]

@salman258746

1) intel-compute-runtime

Self-explanatory. It is needed if you run it on a Intel GPU.

@salman258746

2) opencl-clover-mesa  
6) opencl-rusticl-mesa  
7) rocm-opencl-runtime 

Now for radeon, since it should use mesa, you have 3 options.

1. clover is the actual implementation
2. rusticl is a reimplementation in rust language, which will replace clover in the near future.
3. rocm is the one, if you run the amdgpu driver with your AMD card, if it is older, it would run the radeon driver. This card:

@salman258746

AMD Thames [Radeon HD 7500M/7600M Series]

must be run with the radeon driver, therefore not your goal.

[salman258746]

My AMD graphics card is old. I am using an HP Pavilion G6 3rd generation laptop which was bought in year 2012. I am using “xf86-video-amdgpu” driver. So, I believe that I must go with “rocm-opencl-runtime”. Please correct me if I am wrong. However, I did not get your last sentence which says “… therefore not your goal”. I am not a native English speaker, so can you please elaborate

[megavolt]

@salman258746

However, I did not get your last sentence which says “… therefore not your goal”. I am not a native English speaker, so can you please elaborate

Not all AMD GPUs can make use of the new open amdgpu driver, but the older radeon driver.

Please share the terminal output of: inxi -Gazy

[salman258746]

Here is the output of the command:

[sal:pc:~] inxi -Gazy
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-7 process: Intel 22nm built: 2012-13 ports:
    active: LVDS-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:0166 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: AMD Thames [Radeon HD 7500M/7600M Series] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: radeon v: kernel alternate: amdgpu arch: TeraScale-2 code: Evergreen
    process: TSMC 32-40nm built: 2009-15 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    link-max: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6840
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 53.5 C
  Device-3: Realtek HP Truevision HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 2-1.5:3 chip-ID: 0bda:58de
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.2
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,radeon
    alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus,r600 gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x720 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 338x190mm (13.31x7.48")
    s-diag: 388mm (15.27")
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: Seiko Epson 0x315a built: 2012 res: 1280x720
    hz: 60 dpi: 95 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64") diag: 395mm (15.5")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: 1366x768
  API: OpenGL v: 4.2 Mesa 23.0.4 renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB
    GT2) direct-render: Yes

[megavolt]

@salman258746

 Device-2: AMD Thames [Radeon HD 7500M/7600M Series] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: radeon v: kernel alternate: amdgpu arch: TeraScale-2 code: Evergreen
    process: TSMC 32-40nm built: 2009-15 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    link-max: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6840
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 53.5 C

As you see, it uses the older radeon driver as expected. It has probably very experimental support for amdgpu driver, which can be set, but expect “unicorns” (in other words: bugs).

You can install amdgpu-experimental, which set the settings to force the amdgpu driver. Be ready for a possible black screen after a reboot.

However… clover/rusticl would be the method for the radeon driver.

[salman258746]

From this discussion, I understand that if I use experimental amdgpu driver, then I can install “rocm-opencl-runtime”. However, if I want to stick with the old “radeon” driver then I can use either “opencl-clover-mesa” or “opencl-rustcl-mesa”.
So, as I will try to avoid a black screen , and stick with the old “radeon” driver, therefore, I will install “opencl-clover-mesa”.
Thanks a lot.

Just for the sake of discussion, If I want to test the experimental “amdgpu” driver, then do the following two steps are sufficient:

1. Install the package “amdgpu-experimental”
2. Remove the package “xf86-video-amdgpu”

Or, will it require some manual configuration?

[megavolt]

No, it is not a driver replacement. It is still the same driver, but it enables the experimental support. This package amdgpu-experimental actually does what is described on the arch wiki : https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU#Enable_Southern_Islands_(SI)and_Sea_Islands(CIK)_support

[salman258746]

Thanks a lot